I first encountered František Janula more than twenty years ago. He has never ceased to surprise and dazzle me since that time. He wields a miraculous power of permanent renewal, which makes him use the most diverse and least expected materials. He plays a solemn game with the elements, one might say. And this game is both dangerous and demanding. Painting is a risky leap. A painter either wins or loses the bet.

This risk and this victory make Janula’s works all the more remarkable. This colourful work, often renewing itself, which began more than hundred years ago in Bohemia and continued in Paris after the Prague Spring of 1968, unwinds with an utter logic and harmony.

As I have been Janula's advocate for more than twenty-five years, I rejoice at seeing his paintings return to his homeland. Knowing his adherence to his roots, I can imagine the emotions that are running away with him. At any rate he never gave up expressing them in his paintings after his arrival in Paris. I’m convinced that visitors to this exhibition will understand the sensitivity and poetry of this outstanding painter, the heir of his two great predecessors, Kupka and Šíma. He deserves to be ranked among them.